


The Courting Behaviour Of Male Teenagers

by NimueOfTheNorth



Series: Fluff Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First Kiss, Flowers, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimueOfTheNorth/pseuds/NimueOfTheNorth
Summary: Pomona Sprout was more than happy that her greenhouses and gardens often helped young love along. The latest episode of that kind was quite unexpected, though, but no less welcome.





	The Courting Behaviour Of Male Teenagers

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written as part of the Just Write Discord Server's Fluff Bingo 2019, in answer to the prompt "Flowers".

Pomona took a stroll through and among her greenhouses after dinner and surveyed her territory with pride. When she’d taken over the position as Herbology professor, everything had been neat and orderly; she was sure that’s how her predecessor had thought about it. Her own description ran more towards sterile and boring, so she had immediately set about remodelling the whole area more to her liking. Albus Dumbledore had, of course, been delighted.

The professor during her own time as a student had been a whimsical man, who had filled the greenhouses and areas in between with little patches of exotic, beautiful and delicate flowers for those to discover who had an eye for these things.

With that in mind, Pomona had transformed the whole courtyard the greenhouses sat in into a flowering garden, with smaller trees to offer shade over benches wherever a nook provided a suitable place for such. The greenhouses for the younger years were arranged in a similar manner to invite students to soak up some of the fresh air, warmth and sunlight charms whenever the weather was a bit too Scottish to make up for living in an old, drafty castle. And scattered among the multitude of flowers and bushes, Pomona planted the occasional calm and unassuming little arrangement that her own mentor would have loved.

Turning her realm into a garden like this had multiple side effects. For one, it helped to better discern the level of interest and talent her more gifted students had when it came to plants. There were always those who looked at plants as something purely utilitarian and paid no attention to what they considered useless, decorative ones, whereas others showed love and appreciation for all of them. Those students usually didn’t need it explained to them how the supposedly useless flowers attracted large numbers of natural pollinators, the more magical plants and herbs profited from as well.

And there was, of course, the inevitability of young couples using the relative privacy the more secluded spaces between the greenhouses offered, to spend some romantic time away from their classmates.

Pomona didn't mind. While she agreed that broom closet shenanigans were inappropriate and should be broken up as much as the staff could manage, she also remembered what it was like to be a teenager and falling in love for the first time. Being at a boarding school simply left their students little to no opportunity to explore these aspects of the social life of beginning adulthood away from school ground, and she for one was of the opinion that it was better to offer them safe and appropriate places to develop and explore. If that included besotted boys picking bouquets from her flower beds to sway a girl's attention their way, she could deal with that. She just told them to use the pruning knife from their kit, cut the stems low enough that the bare stems didn't stand out as eyesores, and to spread their picking efforts out over a larger area rather than robbing one plant of all its blooms.

Speaking of which, she quickly checked the charms over the red roses she had manipulated to bloom just in time for Valentine's Day each year. Everything was going well, and the students would have all they needed for their romantic gestures the upcoming February yet again. Each year, she employed the help of the house elves to look over the roses the days leading up to the 14th, to ensure that no student picked more than 5 roses. That way, everyone had a chance to get some. That didn't mean that the kids wouldn't pool their allotments together to help a friend out.

She fondly remembered a few years back, when a determined Hufflepuff seventh year prefect had shown up with the entire first to third years of her house in tow, plus a few Gryffindors, the romantic softies. As all the youngsters had looked more than eager and outright giddy to help and be in on the surprise, Pomona hadn’t had any issue with it. By the time everyone had cut their five roses, the young man had a truly impressive display of almost 200 flowers, that could only be held together by magic. It had been a convincing proposal that had all the occupants of the great hall cheering the next morning. Last Pomona had heard, the couple was expecting their first child.

Smiling fondly at the memory and satisfied that everything was set for similar success the next year, she entered the smaller greenhouse she had set up for the older students to work on assignments and special projects. Unsurprisingly, Neville Longbottom was puttering about on one of the workbenches, carefully taking offshoots from one of his personal plants. The boy had always been a joy to have in her class, and she was proud of how he had grown in other fields over the years. She'd have preferred if her students hadn't had to live through and fight in an adults' war, but she was immensely proud of how most of them had risen to the challenge and surpassed any expectation.

Neville had taken his sudden fame after publically defying Voldemort and beheading his snake in a quite spectacular manner with all the discomfort Pomona had expected from him and had proceeded to put his efforts into shrinking back into the shadows of obscurity behind Harry Potter. Not that the other boy was any more comfortable with the attention, he had just grown used to it after so many years and was resigned to his fate in that regard.

Pomona had seen Neville even more than before as hiding in the greenhouses had proven a very effective way for Neville to become less visible to the rest of the school. Everybody pretty much knew where to find him, but by some unspoken agreement respected his privacy. She could only hope that Potter had found a similar spot to retreat to and take a breather every now and then.

Neville looked up when he heard the door close behind her and gave her a polite nod in greeting before returning to his task. Pomona left him to it and checked over the stores in the attached shed that held all the standard supplies the students might need.

She was about halfway through the shelves when she heard the door again and glimpsed out into the greenhouse, somewhat surprised to see Draco Malfoy approaching Neville's workstation with an unusual hesitation about him. Malfoy's actions around the end of the war had been one of the bigger surprises, the way he had stepped up in the Wizengamot and gave a full testimony about his own actions and that of any other Death Eater and sympathiser, even if it had meant his own father ended up in Azkaban and Draco himself on probation. Not even Harry Potter telling anyone and their brother how crucial to his eventual victory it had been that both Draco and Narcissa had defied Voldemort had prevented the latter. It also hadn't meant that the student population had easily swayed to Draco's side, and Pomona saw how the young man was mostly ostracised from both sides of the fence, with a few notable exceptions. Pomona hadn't fully made up her mind about Malfoy, waiting how the many changes he'd gone through in the last years played out. But given their history since their first year, him approaching Neville warranted a weather eye.

“Hey, Longbottom,” Malfoy greeted when the other boy looked up. “I was hoping I could ask your advice on my Herbology project. If I’m not interrupting anything, that is.”

“Sure, Malfoy. I’m pretty much done here. What’s your problem?” Neville invited him to sit by pulling out the stool beside him.

"You see, as my finals project, I thought I'd see if I couldn't use a time rune to encourage a copper berry bush to bear fruits sooner than its normal five-year cycle. With how many healing potions use the berries, I figured that would be useful."

"That's an interesting idea, Draco. How's it going?" Neville sounded honestly intrigued, and Pomona understood that well, she had been no different when Malfoy had suggested the project to her.

"Mixed results, I guess," Malfoy answered with a shrug and pulled the small potted bush out of the basket he'd been carrying. "This one is from our greenhouses at home. My mother has always kept a few of the more basic potions plants in addition to her gardens. It's only in the fourth year of its cycle, but the application of the rune made it bloom a few weeks ago, and I made sure it got pollinated. The berries started developing as they should, but then, this happened." He gestured at the plant that Pomona could see even from a distance was missing pretty much all of its leaves.

“Hmmm, that’s unusual and not good. Copper berry bushes are normally quite hardy plants,” Neville said.

“Exactly. And I searched in all the books I could find them in and checked all the factors they mentioned as possibly affecting their health, but they all seem all right. So I was hoping you might have another idea how to fix this.”

“Let’s see.”

Pomona watched for a moment as Neville started to cast diagnostic spells on the poorly plant and then retreated back to her shelves. She never made a habit of spying on her students, and as unlikely as the pairing at the workbench was, there was nothing about their interaction that made her worry. So she resumed her own task and left once she was done. The two young men had their heads stuck together and were quietly discussing the results of the diagnostics it seemed, too preoccupied to even notice her, and she left them to it.

* * *

Over the following weeks, Pomona noted that Malfoy could be found in the greenhouses much more than usual. Sometimes, he and Neville would be taking care of his copper berry bush, that was slowly but surely looking more healthy again. She was looking forward to the project report Malfoy would have to hand in, curious what the problem had been and which solution they had found. Other times, Malfoy would be sitting at the bench beside Neville, working on his homework, as if the greenhouses provided him with the quiet working atmosphere he couldn’t find in the castle. 

The most curious sight for Pomona was when Neville was working on the general upkeep of the greenhouses, as he had done for years without her prompting, and Malfoy would be tagging along, carrying tools and watering cans. As time progressed, the noble heir looked less and less uncomfortable among the plants and miniature biotopes. The day she found him in wellies, she almost stumbled into the devil’s snare.

For a good while, she wasn't sure what prompted this new friendship, if it was just the fact that Neville didn't treat Malfoy like a pariah and nobody bothered to come out here to make a fuss. But the longer it went on, the closer they seemed to grow, and lively discussions and laughter could be heard most of the time the two were working together. When the physical distance between them started to shrink away, Pomona figured something altogether different might be at play, but she kept her counsel. It was nobody's business but theirs which direction their relationship would go.

When other teachers asked, where Malfoy might be spending all his free time, Pomona just said he had found refuge in the greenhouses, and nothing more.

She watched as in the great hall and the corridors, both boys were approached by girls about trips to Hogsmeade, sitting together during meals, or studying together. The intent of the girls was rarely subtle, and Pomona sighed internally about how many parents still told their daughters to find a good match to marry, instead of a career of their own. The most pathetic of the lot this year was Pansy Parkinson, who threw herself at Malfoy to such a degree that the quiet ignorance most young men gave to unwanted attention switched straight to open avoidance and telling offs on Malfoy’s part. That he had cancelled their informal betrothal the moment his father was incarcerated should have been a clear enough message for the girl and her family.

One day in early December, Pomona watched from the head table as Neville and Draco walked into the great hall at dinner time, cheeks red from the already frosty wind and still ensconced in a lively discussion. When Draco made to depart for the Slytherin table, Neville grabbed his arm and pulled him along towards the Gryffindors, not letting go until Malfoy had settled down on the bench beside Neville under some vague and interrupted protests. Pomona and Minerva were exchanging looks and raised eyebrows, but the anticipated complaints from the other lions were nipped in the bud when Potter requested, Malfoy pass over the parmesan to add to his spaghetti bolognese as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Pomona wasn't sure if Ron Weasley's wince came courtesy of a kick from Potter or Granger, but Neville's grateful smile spoke volumes all the way up to the teacher's table.

“Well, isn’t that an interesting development. I did not see that coming,” Minerva commented quietly beside Pomona.

"I'm not sure they've quite figured it out for themselves yet," she told her old friend. "I've had a bit of a front row seat to their growing friendship, but I'm still not sure if it will stay as such, or change further."

“It is best to leave those things alone and not draw any more attention to them,” Minerva agreed. “But it won’t hurt for all of us to keep an eye out in case the other students give them grief, be it over their unlikely friendship or their choice in romantic partner.”

Pomona and a few of the other teachers nodded, but given how naturally Potter and Granger had managed to include Malfoy into the conversation at the Gryffindor table, she figured the risk was a lot lower than it could be.

* * *

The day after the students returned from the Christmas holidays, Pomona and Neville were chatting about ideas to restructure a few areas of the greenhouses and gardens come spring. She'd always made it a habit to include the students in such activities and the decisions that lead up to them, but only the older ones more invested in her subject were involved in the early stages. Experience had taught her that it would turn out a right mess otherwise.

Including Neville was a bit of a different matter yet again, as she planned to offer him an apprenticeship after he completed his NEWTs. She knew he had spoken about following his parents' footsteps and becoming an Auror at some point, but she always felt that that was more his grandmother's expectations talking than his own wishes. And it hadn't come up again for quite some time. It was obvious to anyone who cared to pay attention, where his passion and talent lay, and she would be a fool not to offer him that option at the very least. She was secretly hoping he might become her successor in a few years. She wasn't getting any younger.

“And maybe, we could set one corner aside to grow various berries, for the students to pick. They should be just about ripe when term draws to a close, so it would be a nice treat in between all the studying,” Neville said excitedly.

“That’s a wonderful idea, Neville. And between you and me I’m sure we have enough parent plants at our homes to get that off to a good start. Oh, hello, Mr Malfoy! What can we do for you?”

“I just came to see Neville, but I don’t want to interrupt whatever you’re working on,” he answered, awkwardly shuffling a fairly large box with a bow in his arms, that he’d quite clearly prefer to hide.

“No worries, we were done here anyway. I need to go check on my Puffs. The little ones always come back with loads of sweets and overindulge on the first day away from their parents caring supervision. You two enjoy yourself!”

She walked away but couldn’t resist finding a little something to do, just out of sight but near enough to still listen in. Maybe it wasn’t the politest thing to do, but the greenhouses were still a public space, and her romantic heart demanded to know.

“So, what have you got there?” Neville asked after a few moments of silence.

"The whole time, I was thinking about the perfect Christmas gift for you and couldn't come up with something. I'm sorry this is a little late, but I didn't want to risk owling it after your letter arrived. Here."

"Thank you, Draco, but you didn't have to get me anything else. The scarf you sent me is wonderful, and I've been wearing it loads, just not in the greenhouses, because I'm afraid I'll ruin it."

“I’m glad you like it, but this is better, I think. Go on, open it!”

“Okay, okay!” Neville agreed with laughter in his voice. “Oh, Draco! This is too much,” followed with a tone of wonder.

"No, it's not. It's never too much," Draco insisted. "When you wrote me that your mother's Sparkling Rose died in the autumn, all I wanted was to make it better somehow. I know, it's not quite the same, but maybe it will help fill the gap it left behind and make it hurt a little less. Mother loves roses and has quite a bit of success cultivating all the various kinds. She's a bit of a collector, actually. And she's had some luck taking offshoots from even the Sparkling Roses she has. She allowed me to pick which one I wanted to give to you, and this was the prettiest." Malfoy was rambling, which told Pomona all she needed to know about the feelings of the normally so controlled young man. She almost held her breath, waiting for Neville's reaction to the gesture. There was little chance, he had missed the significance.

“It’s beautiful, Draco. I don’t even know what to say, this is such a wonderful gift. Thank you just doesn’t seem large enough.”

“As long as it makes you happy, that’s all I was aiming for.”

“Very happy. This is an amazing gift. I really don’t know what to say.”

There were some shuffling noises and then one of surprise. Pomona pulled a few leaves aside just in time to see Draco's flailing hands settle onto Neville's waist and pulling him closer. Neville's hands were tenderly cradling Draco's face as he was kissing the other boy. Pomona held back the sigh of happiness that wanted to escape and instead cast a wordless silencing spell about herself, so she could take her leave without risking to disturb young love. This was indeed no longer any of her business.

More than an hour later and after administering multiple potions to calm upset stomachs, Pomona visited Minerva for a quiet cup of tea and some gossip. Glancing out of the window, she called Minerva over.

“Look over there, by the exit of the Herbology gardens.”

The windows of the headmistress’ office did their job by acting like binoculars for whichever area one was focusing on.

“Well, I’ll be damned. If Sybil had prophesied that in their first year, I would have said she had lost the last of her marbles for sure.”

They both watched as Neville and Draco walked up the path, holding hands. Both their hair looked a little dishevelled, and they were still pulling each other into any bit of shadow along the way to get in a bit more snogging.

“I can only hope Longbottom already prepared his grandmother for this possibility,” Minerva said on a sigh. “I better strengthen the mail wards against howlers anyway. I wouldn’t want for Augusta to embarrass her grandson over such a private matter. Not that it will stay a secret for long if they keep acting like this, but if she disapproves, I won’t stand for her airing that in public.”

Pomona could only nod in agreement. These two young men had gone through enough and more than earned the respect of the adults in their lives. They didn’t deserve to have their personal choices questioned.

“How did this finally come about, do you know?” Minerva inquired as the love birds finally vanished from view and the two teachers turned towards their tea.

“Malfoy played the long and careful game and then finished it up by gifting Neville a very special rose.”

“Huh. Who would have thought him the romantic type? But it’s always nice to see when the youngsters still know how to properly court.”

THE END

  
  



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